This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com
Author: listowelconnectionPage 15 of 194
Mary Cogan, retired from teaching in Presentation Secondary School, Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am a native of Kanturk, Co. Cork.
I have published two books; Listowel Through a Lens and A minute of your Time
Narcissi in Phoenix Park, Dublin…photo; Carmel Hanrahan
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What a difference a year makes?
This lovely picture is on page 4 of Moments of Reflection. The sun is shining and the hens are out foraging among the daffodils. The photo was taken by the hens’ owner on February 18 2024.
One year later on February 18 2025, same old garden and same photographer. The hens are in lockdown to keep them safe from the global avian pandemic that we call Bird Flu. Because of the inclement weather we experienced this winter and early spring , the daffodils are way behind.
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Old Kanturk
This is back in the day when the Fair was a big thing. I am currently reading Niall Williams’ The Time of the Child (highly highly recommend). In it Williams paints a great picture of just such a fairday in his fictional town.
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Catching Up
A great blessing on life’s journey is keeping contact with old friends. This is Margo Spillane who is one of my most loyal and supportive old buddies. We caught up recently in Ballincollig. Always a pleasure!
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Life Goes On
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A Fact
Alligators and sharks can live for up to 100 years.
Now I liked this institution (Mikey OConnor’s shop) because when we brought the shopping list into O’Connors on Wednesdays we were always allowed dip into the open biscuit or loose sweet box and have one treat. After the treat the list was handed over to Mikey. He examined it and put it on the Friday pile. He had circular wooden pieces with what looked like a knitting needle protruding upwards and he just pushed the shopping list on to the Friday pile. Then these messages were selected and duly delivered in the van by Big Pat Sullivan, and you paid him the exact amount due in cash or else you paid in cash in the shop next day. Otherwise, there was no delivery the following week. This was our online shopping with very strict credit control.
In addition to the delivery vans most shops had heavy messenger bikes with the big cumbersome wicker basket in front for deliveries of shopping. These were heavy machines to handle and were operated solely by human pedal power in all weathers. They usually had the name of the shop on a plate attached to the crossbar. They could have done with some of the battery-operated machines that today’s Deliveroo people use for fast delivery of take aways. And now as I write these delivery methods are being superseded by delivery drones. Will the next phase be robots galloping around delivering?
I remember in rural Ireland we had the man with the van travelling from village to village selling groceries and this worked well in small communities but was not widely available.
I look at shopping today and I see so many people doing click and collect since Covid times. People regard it as a great convenience which it really is.
We also have home deliveries which have become very popular with shoppers with instant card payments and online selecting and ordering. It is a fantastic system for busy people where both partners are working or for older people whose children or themselves do the shopping online and have the groceries delivered to their own kitchen table.
I smile wryly to myself when I think that we had online shopping, home deliveries and on the spot payments 75 years ago and more.
I came to Arklow in 1967 and spent my first couple of years in digs which was very settling, comfortable and secure with no shopping required, but times moved on. Our land ladies retired, and we rented a house. Now we had four bachelors who needed sustenance and had to eat. This required the provision of groceries. We went to Jack Byrnes on the Coolgreaney Road which was our nearest grocer’s shop. Now Jack operated a book service for regular customers whereby you got your groceries, they wrote them into your book, and you paid for them on pay day. This suited us perfectly until it came to pay day and dividing up the bill. The list was well scrutinised to ensure no one was doing any extra personal shopping outside the prescribed agreed list of necessary foods to be purchased for breakfast, dinner and supper. It was a great system that worked perfectly well for us before we spread our wings and settled down to more acceptable ways of living.
Shopping has developed exponentially since our barter system was common in Ireland long ago or even more so since the Egyptians used a set weight of gold to purchase goods or since Charlemagne introduced the first standard penny coin in 800 AD.
Life and shopping experiences are constantly evolving, and we must keep changing and continue to manage and adapt to the changes. As Barrack Obama said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek “
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Memories of Ena Collins
This old image last week evoke many memories for people of a certain age. End, by all accounts was a very pious woman and a great friend of the nuns. You could say she was their eyes and ears in town. She kept a close eye on the convent girls and reported any ‘conduct unbecoming’.
Mike Moriarty has a memory of the shop and the strips of ling ( a cod like fish) hanging by the door. Ling was often salted and preserved for eating during Lent. I remember it well…ugh!
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Keep on Keeping On
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A Dingle Postbox
Maybe this one has been repainted since this photo was taken. In this snap you can see the old red paint coming through.
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You Have to Laugh
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A Fact
A small amount of alcohol on a scorpion will drive it insane and cause it to sting itself to death.
This is a very historical piece…the original post box dates between 1911 and 1921…and Saorstát Éireann dates from 1922 to 1937….unusual in that original door was taken off and replaced…. but retained the original logo’s…. Knocksedan Ireland….. no longer in use….
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That Edward VII postbox dates from 1901 to 1905; after 1905 the royal cypher was used.
This wallbox has been removed..I believe stolen a couple of years ago….
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Shops and Shopping Memories
by Mick O’Callaghan
I remember Woolworths shop coming to Tralee in the early fifties. There was great excitement at the arrival of this new shopping experience for the people of Tralee. It had a special significance for me because I was starting school, and I was not happy to be held in captivity within the confines of a classroom with a locked door. Sr Immaculata told me that my mother was gone to Woolworths to buy me a present, whereupon I told her that she was a liar because Woolworths shop was not yet open. I lashed out and kicked her. That incident gave me the title for my published memoir ‘The boy who kicked the nun”.
Yes, Woolworths opened a whole new shopping experience for the people of the Tralee catchment area with its array of sweets, chocolates and a wide range of goods. I remember buying my first fishing rod there.
Woolworths was a bright star in the middle of the more traditional shops and institutions around it.
We had Revington’s store selling high class drapery and household goods. It was our Harrods of Tralee. People flocked in there and loved it
There were traditional butchers shops a plenty. I remember Mr Mulcahy in Wilsons Shop slicing rashers to perfection on the slicing machine. Mr Harmon sold loose sweets in paper tósíns, his wine gums were to die for. Yes, and we had Healy’s dairy selling ice cream and dairy products. Oh memories, memories of Havercrofts bakery, of Benners that sold every conceivable household gadget imaginable. There was Kelliher’s, McCowen’s and Latchford’s stores and yards with their hardware, fuel and building supplies. Yes, there is a rich memory bank from our early shopping days, but all is changed now with less local ownership and a huge diversity in suppliers and supplies.
We also had the Munster and Leinster bank with Bank of Ireland close by. They were revered national institutions where all shopkeepers queued up on Monday mornings to lodge the weekend takings. Young people aspired to getting a position there because it was regarded as a safe secure pensionable job for life. The local bank managers were well respected figures in the community. Little did they think that such noble institutions would crash and cause such inestimable damage and stress to the lives of ordinary people. They would also bring long serving businesspeople to their knees and cause national economies to collapse. Irish life was changed for ever by the collapse of the banks.
Apart from these we had a few grocers’ shops, and they had their regular clients. Our grocer of choice was O Connors and Mikey, the owner, was a relation of the family, on my mother’s side. He was a Fianna Fail Politician and that did not sit too easily with my father who was opposed to him politically, but practicality had to prevail because the choice of grocer’s shops was limited, and we shopped with Mikey.
More tomorrow
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Sunday in Ballincollig
I was in Ballincollig yesterday, Sunday February 22 2025.
I was there to support my granddaughter and her team, Lakewood, in The National Cup U14 soccer tournament. They beat Drogheda 5/1 and are now into the quarter finals.
Cora is on the far left, with the headband in Carine’s photo.
While I was in Ballincollig I called to the shopping centre for my newspaper.
This was the scene 10 minutes before New Look opened to begin its closing down sale.
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A Fact
For every human on earth there are approximately one million ants.
Today I am taking the unusual step (for me) of dealing with only one topic. Today would have been this lovely young jockey’s 25th birthday.
Michael O’Sullivan R.I.P.
This week the ‘going” in racecourses across these islands and everywhere in the hearts of people who love horses and people who love people who love horses was very heavy.
Heavy
A real test of a racehorse’s stamina and only very few horses relish this type of ground. It is often very wet and hard to run on as the water soaks into the ground. Often described as a ‘bog’, with reference to how slow this surface rides.
It was not the racehorses who were being tested by the going this week. The real test of stamina was for everyone who loved Michael O’Sullivan. His horseloving family are beyond heartbroken by the loss of their beautiful talented boy.
I have read many tributes to Michael this week and I have tearfully watched his brilliant interview more than once. I was particularly touched by this tribute from Pat Healy of Healyracing. I am giving it to you today as the Listowel connection. Pat is not a writer and he usually lets his pictures paint a thousand words but on this occasion he spoke from the heart. Pat and Michael shared more than just a love of horseracing. They both turned their passion into a livelihood. Their paths were destined to cross often. No one had any doubt that Michael would have been a regular for Pat to photograph in the winners’ enclosure.
Like Michael, Pat is his father’s son. Pat knows what is is to learn from your father, to work side by side with him in a family business, doing what you both love. Pat knows what it is to make your dad proud, to enjoy great times on the racecourse surrounded by family. Pat knows what it is to step into your father’s shoes, to do what your father did and to do it better. Pat saw his father work at a job that was seven days a week, out in all weathers, and above all to love what he did. Pat and Michael learned their hard work ethic from great role models. Pat knows better than anyone the absolute devastation at losing one of the brightest and most promising members of the team. Pat lost his mom early in his life. He knows that loss can cement a family bond and bring people closer together. He knows there are better times ahead but, for now, the going is very heavy.
Here is Pat’s tribute:
Feb 9 2025
Sunday morning and I draw the curtains. Jesus what a horrible sight ! Its grey dark and the sky looks to be on the ground. The scene mirrors the way I feel after yesterday evenings result in the football with The Dubs beating us in our own backyard by a point. I have to face them at Punchestown today putting on a smiley face and let their banter roll off me. Problem is I’m used to it now sure they have us where they want us for the past decade and a half. Pick up the phone check whats happening in the world. Is Trump giving us a laugh today ? Wallop ! Noooo ! Aw Holy God ! Like a heavy weight boxer’s punch into the stomach The IHRB let us know that Mikey has left us. Punchestown and The Point To Points called off. Be no trace of any Dubs today ! Oh how I’m wishing now that there was, that way wouldn’t Mikey still be with us.
Tramore New Years Day 47 days ago. Mikey steers Embassy Gardens home to win the feature event on the card for trainer Willie Mullins. I photograph him and his mount in a happy kinda celebration shot on the track before they head for the winners enclosure. “Well done Mikey boy, good on you kid” “Thanks Pat, I needed that” the relief washing over him. “Mikey, this game is about the long road, stay on the road” I tell him. “Don’t worry Pat when I get my chance I will turn it into a motorway” he says and a big hearty laugh out of him !!
I know Mikey, not well but I know him. Sure we are both part of the same community. The racing community. We move from town to town like a circus. Same clowns different towns. As I get older I appreciate the younger generations. They make me smile and I learn from them. Little life lessons like new slang words, phone and computer shortcuts, that type of stuff. Sure they know it all !Mikey is a step above the youngest generation I interact with. There is a group of 16-17 year olds riding. Mikey is 24. I love capturing their 1st success on the track and then watching them achieve their goals and dreams. Cheltenham is every jump jockey’s dream and in March 2023 we saw Mikey grab his dream twice in the one day. Glorious,Great and Gracious, Mikey stole the show in the biggest circus.If you hadn’t seen the results you wouldn’t have known it. His cap still fitted his head, his walk didn’t change and his tongue didn’t let him down. Pure humble hi.
The last few days everything I have read and heard spoken about him is true. It makes me wish I knew him better. Makes me wish I spent time in his company socially. Makes me wish……
Mikey you are a credit to your family and friends.
May God speed you on that motorway and wrap his loving arms around you X
R.I.P. Michael O’Sullivan 2000-2025
The Dash
by Linda Ellis
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning to the end.
He noted first came the date of the birth and spoke the following date with tears. But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between the years.
For that dash represents all the time that they spent life on Earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel.
Be less quick to anger and show appreciation more, and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
Image and text from Monaghan Veteran and Vintage club
In a period between the old open dressers going out of fashion and built in kitchen units coming into fashion there was a type of dresser that dominated the period, and any modern house wife had to have one. Some different designs were available the one shown here had a fold down counter others had a shelf that slid out to act as a counter. They were available in most good hardware stores.
Looking at the picture it strikes me that the drawers are very high. I never remember drawers that were that high.
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Collins’ Bacon Store
Glin Historical Society shared this old Church Street photo on Facebook. It stirred this memory for Joe Harrington.
“During the mid 1960s when I attended the Listowel Technical School I had my lunch up there on the second floor every school day. It’s a long time ago now and I can’t remember if I brought a lunch with me and got a cup of tea there to go with it or if tea and a sandwich were provided. The entrance to the shop was through the door on the left and all I can remember about the shop was a counter on the right and a bench near the back facing the front door on which there always seemed to be a very big slab of bacon. At that time, the shop was ran by Mrs Collins and her daughter, Ena. They were extremely religious and Ena had me running down to the church to light candles on her behalf when I had finished my lunch. When Mrs Collins died, Ena went to England sometime later. I remember my mother, Julie, corresponding with her. I’d love to hear the memories of others who recall Mrs Collins and Ena and the old style shop.”
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A Fact
The average lifespan of a houseflyis 2 to 3 weeks.
